Pad



.Iuly15,1941. H. o. JOHNSON' 2,249,363

PAD

Filed March 19; 1940 INVENTOR Patented July 15, 1941 UNETE PAD Herbert G. .lohnsomlwest Grange, N. J .,-assignor to The Padcraft Corporation, VN ew York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 19, Milli?, Serial No. 324,769

(Cl. .E8-66) 5 Claims.

Ihis invention relates to pads or padding., and more particularly to the kind used in laundering and pressing machines and also capable of use for other purposes.

Previous to this invention, efforts have been made to produce pads or padding composed primarily of metal wool fibres arranged in various ways in an effort to secure an optimum of lasting resiliency without speedy disintegration under the repeated imposition of pressure and the release of pressure. Failure of many prior pads was due not only to the limited elasticity of the bres employed as filling in the pad, but in other cases was due to the failure to .provide a suitable` enclosing envelope or wrapper for the ller, i. e. one which possessed considerable resiliency under compression, yet one which would materially resist elongation and consequently flattening out of the lling.

The primary object of the present invention therefore, is to provide a pad in which is employed a filling composed of a mass of helical or spiral metallic ribbon of relatively uniform elasticity throughout the entire thickness of the filling; said filling being of relatively uniform thickf ness throughout its area and being enclosed in a wrapping or envelope of knitted metallic ribbon.

My experiments have shown that the combination of such a filling and enclosing wrapper results in the production of a pad of extreme elasf ticity under the alternate application and re lease of pressure; that it results also in ka pad of lasting and shape-maintaining qualities even after prolonged use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a im pad composed of a lling of the character described, withsaid 4filling enclosed in several layers of a knitted metallic ribbon, and preferably with someiof the layers extending in a direction oppo site or at an angle to that of the other layers.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a pad of the character described wherein the edges of the knitted metallic wrapper extend beyond the edges of the filling, with the projecting edges of the wrapper Yconsolidated or united tof gether by the imposition of eXtreme pressure upon them whereby they serve to enclose the filling the wrapper; Fig. 4 is a plan View of the vfinished pad with parts broken away to disclose construction; Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of the knitted metal mesh which constitutes the wrapper; and Fig. 6 is a sectional view showing how pressure is applied to the pad by dies to form it into its f tangled mass of helical springy metallic ribbon,

of the nature of vthat suggested in U. S. Pat. No. 1,959,104, dated May `l5, 1934. The entire filling v i is composed .of material of uniform elasticity,

sition over the filling; Fig. 3 shows the wrapper such material being highly elastic, springy and desirably pervious to steam. I have 'found that satisfactory results can .be secured in the manufacture of the pad if the following method of construction is employed:

The amount of iilling material I of the character described, namely, helical or coiled elastic ribbon, preferably of Monel metal or other noncorrosive metal, to be used for the entire filling of the pad is determined, and then a portion of said entire amount, say one-half, is prepared b-y being manipulated, pulled apart or spread out into a hat mass or layer of relatively uniform Y thickness and of a size and shape roughly approximating that ofthe finished pad. This mass or layer is then put aside and another similarly shaped mass or layer is prepared in the same way and it is placed on top of the first mass or layer and the two layers are lightly compacted or pressed together to form them into a more or less integral mass or filling ready for the application of the wrapper. The Wrapper or envelope is then wrapped around the two superposed sectionsof filling, the Vwrapper being wound in the manner hereafter described. The wrapped pad is then subjected to heavy pressure between dies, such as are diagrammatically indicated at 3 and 4 in Fig. 6, the effect of which is to both compact vthe pad into uniform thickness and shape and to forman edge portion or a continuously projecting rim 5 extending completely around the edge of the pad.

When the dies 3 and li are brought together, their shape is such that the edge portion 5 of the various, layers of the `wrapper is pressed together with extreme pressure to consolidate the fibres of the various layers of the wrapper into a single, somewhat hardened, edge.V

The beginning of the application of the wrapper is shown in detail in Fig. 1. The wrapper is preferably composed of a knitted, metallic fabric,

ribbon-like metal as indicated at 6 in Fig. 5. A lengthy section of such knitted mesh and preferably of double or even triple thickness is Wound lengthwise around the filling l as indicated at 1 (Fig. 1). When this has been done, a second Wrapping first applied as indicated at 8, is Wound transversely around the pad and over the first longitudinal Wrapping l, the mesh of the knitted fabric in the section 8 being thus disposed at right angles to that in section l. The wrapping 8 is next applied as indicated at 9 in Fig. 2, or diagonally or on the bias around the Wrapping 'l heretofore described. After the diagonal wrapping 9 has been applied, another wrapping IIJ may be applied thereover, said wrapping I extending longitudinally of the pad in the manner similarly to the wrapping 1.

It will now be seen that the wrappings l, 9 and I0 within which the filling I is conned, are composed of a number of layers of the knitted metallic mesh extending angularly to one another. 'I'he effect of the several superposed wrappings is to confine the filling to a certain shape and thickness and to avoid distortion or flattening out of the pad to any material extent, yet at the same time allow a maximum of compressibility `during the pressing operation. The maintenance of the filling of uniform thickness also serves to prevent the formation of irregular depressions in the pad, yet it permits the pad to be deformed temporarily to conform to irregularities in the article being pressed.

While I have shown the Wrapper as composed of several layers of a knitted metallic ribbon with the layers applied in a certain specific way, it will be clearly obvious that the manner of application of the Wrappings may be altered to suit various requirements and different types of pads of the same general nature. Therefore, While I have shown the Wrappings being first applied longitudinally, then transversely, then diagonally, and then again longitudinally, it will be clear that this manner of applying the wrapper may be varied considerably without alteration to the operativeness of the structure.

After the pad has been Wrapped in the fashion indicated, the entire pad and its wrapping are subjected to pressure between dies such as illustratively shown at 3 and 4, and rather heavy pressure is applied to shape the entire pad into the proper form and form the hardened marginal edge portion produced by pressing together the edge portions of the wrapper to force the fibres thereof together into intimate contact and provide a laterally extending continuous edge or flange 5 around the entire pad. This edge or projecting flange portion 5 serves to hold the various layers of the wrapper together as a unit and prevents shifting or displacement of parts of the wrapper so that it retains the filling in shape and prevents it from shifting or bunching even after a prolonged period of use.

While I have shown the pad as being composed of two main elements, namely, the filling and wrapping, it may in some cases, and partic-v l being composed of a tangled mass of helical coils of non-corrosive metal is extremely springy and capable of standing great pressure for long periods of time without losing its natural resiliency. This, coupled with the use of a knitted, metal covering provides a highly eflicient pad capable of long life under severe use.

What I claim is:

l. A pad of the character described comprising, a filling composed of a mass of tangled metallic ribbon coils, a wrapping enclosing said mass, said wrapping consisting of several layers of knitted metallic ribbon, parts of the Wrapping extending beyond the edges of the lling and formed into a compacted and hardened edging extending around the pad and self-maintaining without supplemental fastening means.

2. A pad of the character described comprising, a filling composed of a mass of tangled metallic ribbon coils, a wrapping enclosing said mass, said Wrapping consisting of at least one layer of knitted metallic ribbon, parts of the wrapping extending beyond the edges of the filling and pressed intimately together to form a selfmaintaining edging extending completely around and enclosing the edges of the filling.

3. In a pad of the character described, a filling of helical coils of springy metallic ribbon, a wrapper composed of several layers of knitted metallic ribbon, two of said wrapper layers comprising inner and outer layers extending in the same direction around the filling, and an intermediate Wrapper layer disposed between said inner and outer layers and wrapped angularly around the pad.

4. A pad of the character described comprising, a filling composed of a tangled mass of coiled metallic filaments, a wrapping enclosing said mass, said wrapping consisting of a foraminous material, parts of the wrapping extending beyond the edges of the filling on all sides thereof, said projecting parts of the wrapping being formed into a compacted and hardened projecting edging extending uninterruptedly around the entire edge of the pad an-d constituting a continuous selfmaintaining edge reinforcement.

5. A pad of the character described comprising, a filling composed of a tangled mass of coiled metallic laments, a Wrapping composed of a number of layers-of foraminous metallic fabric enclosing said mass, parts of the layers of said wrapping projecting radially beyond all of the side edges of the lling, said projecting parts being formed by pressure and Wholly without fastening elements into a hardened, relatively stiff edging completely surrounding all of the filling and restraining the same from lateral displacement.

HERBERT O. JOHNSON. 

